Mark-My-Time

This month we have read 37 hours and 55 minutes - recorded on our mark-my-time. We had a good month and today we read  The Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas by Madeleine L'Engle to gear up for our own Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas. We will start on Saturday, December 1. The kids are ready and have been talking about what we will do on our first day. They all have their own ideas what would be the most fun way to start off the season. Anyway, Saturday is our day to start and we are all looking forward to doing this again. 

Bethany has had a few CF related problems for the past month or so and has been slightly under the weather. She will be seeing her pulmonologist next week for a check up and a CT scan. I got this picture of her as she was resting on the sofa -- a cold and a cough wore her out and she fell asleep in the middle of the day. 

Our Christmas Tree

We have gotten our Christmas tree on the Saturday after Thanksgiving for as long as I can remember so we planned to do the same this year. Unfortunately, it rained all day on Saturday and I did not feel like looking at trees with a bunch of kids in the rain. So, we went on Sunday and it was an absolutely beautiful day. It wasn't even cold and so we didn't mind lingering and looking for quite sometime. When it is cold I try to pick a tree as fast as possible.

We found our tree and got it home and now we just have to put the lights on it -- my least favorite part. I truly hate putting lights on the tree. The kids can do the decorating after the lights go on. Of course, several of my older kids are now telling me that the tree is too small and we made a mistake getting it. They actually want me to move the tree to another room and get a new bigger and fatter one. Don't think that will happen - way too much work. 

Thanksgiving and Getting Ready For Christmas

We had a nice Thanksgiving with family and friends. It really was a good day and we all enjoyed visiting and it would have been truly perfect except for the fact that Joey could not make it. He was feeling very bad and could not come - though Shannon brought the kids for a little while so we got to visit with them. We are hoping he will be feeling better soon. 

I actually got almost no pictures of our day and I really regret that. It just seemed to get late so fast and there was so little light that I only took a few pictures and most of them were just too dark. I usually do a much better job in the camera department, but not this year. So the only two pictures I have to post of Thanksgiving day are these next two. The first one is of two of my girls, Katie and Emily - one a nurse and one a police officer. Then I have one of adorable baby Finn - 3 months old. He was not the youngest here though, as our newest grandson made it and he is only 2 weeks old. 

Oh, and I forgot to mention that we had a total of 46 people here Thanksgiving day. It may sound like a lot, but it didn't seem like that many. 

As soon as Thanksgiving was over Bethany and Tess got the idea to finish the tree up in their room. Bethany put the lights on it - clear this year. She wanted clear lights and to spray the tree with snow and only use a few ornaments. They have a small tree that we bought at Walmart for only $22 and they love it. 

The last three pictures are of our granddaughter, Evelyn, who definitely wanted to get in on the decorating.  Everyone had fun and the tree is finished. It looks nice and I think Bethany, Piper and Tess are happy. 

Sunday

Yesterday, I basically had nothing planned except going to church and practicing for our Christmas program. It felt kind of like a lazy do nothing day to me and that's pretty much all we did. Bethany did decide she thought it would be fun to look for all the stuff she and Piper and Tess used last year to decorate their room for Christmas - maybe even decorate a little. It hasn't been the best week for Bethany as her blood sugar keeps going up and her doctor had to start her on insulin -- something Bethany has dreaded. She got her first insulin shot yesterday and it was not nearly as bad as she thought it would be. She had been very concerned about this shot for days so I was glad her first shot was over and she had gotten her enthusiasm back. Anyway, I decided it would be great for Bethany and Piper and Tess to hunt through their storage closets and find the Christmas decorations that they used for their room last year.  They had a great time going through stuff and finding what they wanted to use this year. 

Bethany decided she wanted to change using multi colored lights for their tree to the clear ones -- and she wants to spray some snow on it. Everybody agreed. Unfortunately, their tree from last year was in really bad shape so we had to throw it out. I think we will be looking for a new one today or maybe just get a live tree - can't decide. They did have fun most of the afternoon going through Christmas stuff and planning for their room. It was a nice day. 

While they were searching, Bethany found an old bell necklace she had gotten when she was about 8 or 9 years old - made her happy. 

Falling Behind

I feel like I have been falling behind getting things posted lately. I forgot to post what we were reading and our mark-my-time and all the little things I try to post so we will remember them. I'm going to skip the books we read in October ,but we did read 44 hours and 11 minutes for the month. We then reset the mark-my-time and have started over for November. We are kind of ready to read a few Christmas books, but are holding off a little longer. But, I am thinking of getting our Christmas books out of the attic soon or at least one box of them. 

Also, I wanted to mention that on October 31 my son, Joey,  had his MRI and the tumor is stable. Again, very good news for this season leading up to Thanksgiving and Christmas. I am so happy. Please continue to remember him in your prayers. 

Today Bella got her flu shot and since we were in the store I promised her she could pick a snack. She first picked a candy bar, then changed that when she saw the honey buns. She started to trade the honey bun for some chips but changed her mind very quickly. So, she came home with a honey bun and was pretty happy with her choice. 

New Baby

Our new grandson was born last night. I think Luke looks pretty happy with his new baby brother. He is adorable.